Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, said it was returning to normal operations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico after evacuating personnel who were under threat of a potentially dangerous storm.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the largest producer in the Gulf, also began returning workers to some offshore platforms late yesterday, the company said on its Web site. BP planned no further updates on the status of its operations, the company said on a media hotline today.

Oil and gas companies including BP, Shell, and Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest oil company, shuttered wells and evacuated personnel as storm clouds passed over Florida earlier this week and formed a tropical depression in the eastern Gulf.

That storm blew ashore ahead of forecasts, before it had time to strengthen, and its remnants were over southern Mississippi this morning, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an 11:30 a.m. update, its last.

A survey of producers by the U.S. Minerals Management Service today showed 58.3 percent of Gulf crude-oil output and 25.2 percent of gas production had been idled. Workers have been evacuated from 100 of 834 manned platforms and 14 of 89 rigs, the survey showed as of this afternoon.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Kennett in Houston at jkennett@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 22, 2007 15:00 EDT